Such semiconductor devices comprise a semiconductor die and a leadframe comprising a plurality of leads which are wire bonded to corresponding electrically conductive contact pads of the die. The die and portions of the leads of the leadframe are encapsulated in an encapsulating housing formed from a mouldable compound, typically, a thermosetting material, such as epoxy resins, with distal portions of the leads of the leadframe extending through the encapsulating housing for facilitating electrical coupling of the semiconductor device to other components, for example, for facilitating electrical coupling of the semiconductor device to a printed circuit board using various types of solder coupling technologies including surface-mount technology and other more conventional technologies. In the manufacture of such semiconductor devices, it is important that the die and the leadframe are secured together prior to wire bonding of the contact pads of the die to the leads of the leadframe. Various methods for securing a die to a leadframe prior to wire bonding of the contact pads of the die to the leads of the leadframe are known.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,446 of Kierse granted to the assignee of the present Application discloses a leadframe comprising a plurality of leads, proximal ends of which extend beneath a die, and the die is bonded directly to the leads by an electrically non-conductive adhesive. Subsequent to bonding of the die to the leadframe, the electrically conductive contact pads of the die are wire bonded to the corresponding leads of the leadframe, and the assembly is then encapsulated in a mouldable compound. The leadframe is then subsequently trimmed in order to electrically isolate the leads from each other. However, a problem of the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,446 is that the die must first be coated with the adhesive, which typically is an epoxy adhesive paste. The coating and subsequent handling of dies so coated is difficult and requires specialised coating and die handling machines.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,843 of Okinaga, et al discloses a number of embodiments and methods for encapsulated semiconductor devices. In one of the semiconductor devices, the device comprises a die and a leadframe with an electrically non-conductive pad disposed between and bonded to the die and the leadframe by respective adhesives which are disposed between the non-conductive pad and the leadframe, and between the non-conductive pad and the die. The specification of Okinaga is silent on the type of adhesives, however, the adhesives appear to be provided as sheets of thermoplastic adhesives, which are subsequently heated to effect bonding. A problem of this method is that alignment of the die relative to the leadframe for aligning the electrically conductive contact pads of the die with the corresponding leads of the leadframe is difficult. Another problem associated with the method of Okinaga is that due to the fact that the wire bonding to some of the leads of the leadframe has to be effected at the extreme proximal ends of the leads, where the extreme proximal ends of the leads extend just beyond the non-conductive pad and the die. This only allows a relatively small area at the extremities of the proximal ends of such leads available for wire bonding, and adhesive may seep from beneath the carrier pad along such leads to their respective proximal extremities, thus preventing adequate electrical contact between the bond wires and the leads. In another embodiment of the method disclosed in the specification of Okinaga, a die of an encapsulated semiconductor device is directly bonded to the leadframe by an electrically non-conductive adhesive which appears to be a thermoplastic adhesive, examples of which are given as polyimide resins, silicon rubbers and ceramics.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,474 of Yasuhara discloses an encapsulated semiconductor device comprising a die and a leadframe with an electrically non-conductive pad disposed between and bonded to the die and the leadframe. The non-conductive pad is a polyimide type resin film. The leadframe is bonded to the non-conductive pad by a layer of thermoplastic adhesive such as a polyester amidoimide, and the die is bonded to the non-conductive pad by a bonding layer which is formed by a multi-layer non-conductive adhesive such as silicon rubber, epoxy rubber, epoxy type resin or polyimide type resin stacked on a thermosetting polyimide type resin adhesive. A problem with this method is that alignment of the die with the leadframe for aligning the electrically conductive contact pads of the dies with the corresponding leads of the leadframe is difficult.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,404 of Fogal discloses two methods for securing a die to a leadframe prior to wire bonding electrically conductive contact pads of the die to corresponding leads of the leadframe. In one of the methods the die is attached to a die paddle of the leadframe with an adhesive such as an epoxy paste, an epoxy film, metal or glue. In the other of the methods the die paddle is replaced with a tape which appears to be electrically non-conductive, and the tape is attached to proximal ends of leads of the leadframe, and the die is attached to the tape. The tape is layered on one or both sides thereof with a thermoplastic material, depending on whether the die and the leads of the leadframe are to be attached to the same side, or to respective opposite sides of the tape. The thermoplastic material is provided instead of adhesive for attaching the die and the leadframe to the tape. A problem with this latter method is that it is difficult to align the die and the leadframe for alignment of the electrical conductive contact pads of the die with the corresponding leads of the leadframe. Additionally, the die and the leadframe must be simultaneously attached to the tape which leads to further problems of aligning the die and the leadframe.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,842 of Farnworth, et al discloses a method for securing a die to a leadframe which requires locating a carrier material such as polyimide between the leadframe and the die, and attaching the die and the leadframe to the carrier. A layer of thermoplastic adhesive is disposed between the carrier and the leadframe, and a layer of thermoplastic adhesive is disposed between the carrier and the die. The layer of adhesive between the carrier and the die is selected so that it softens and flows at a lower temperature than the layer of adhesive disposed between the carrier and the leadframe. In this way the carrier can be secured to the leadframe, and then subsequently to the die. However, this method also suffers from the problem that alignment of the die with the leadframe is difficult.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,706,559 of Jiang, et al also discloses a method for securing a die to a leadframe prior to wire bonding of electrically conductive contact pads of the die to the leads of the leadframe. In the method of Jiang a wet film adhesive layer is disposed between the die and the leadframe, and the adhesive may be applied to the die or to the leadframe, or to both. Examples of adhesives are liquid or paste mixtures of unreacted monomers, polymers or diluted resins, polyimides or polyimide siloxane. The adhesive is then subsequently cured.
Accordingly, in general, all such prior art methods either require a film of adhesive to be disposed between the semiconductor die and the leadframe or a die paddle for directly securing the die to the leadframe or paddle, or alternatively, prior art methods require a sheet of material, typically, an electrically non-conductive sheet to be disposed between and attached to the die and the leadframe by respective layers of adhesive. Additionally, in prior art methods the adhesives used to bond the semiconductor die to the leadframe or to the die paddle, or to bond the die to the electrically non-conductive sheet, and to bond the electrically non-conductive sheet to the leadframe are typically thermoplastic adhesives. Thermoplastic adhesives, while they remain stable at room temperature after curing, are not stable at higher temperatures, and after curing become unstable at temperatures in the region of their normal melt, cure and bond temperatures. Thus, in virtually all cases the bonding of the non-conductive sheet to the leadframe and to the die must be carried out simultaneously. This causes considerable problems in the assembly of the leadframe, the non-conductive sheet and the die, since the leadframe, the non-conductive sheet and the die must be accurately and correctly positioned and aligned relative to each other prior to subjecting the assembly to an appropriate temperature for raising the thermoplastic adhesives to a temperature sufficient for effecting bonding of the die and the leadframe to the non-conductive sheet. Maintaining the die, the leadframe and the non-conductive sheet accurately aligned and positioned during this procedure is difficult.
However, even in the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,842 of Farnworth, which permits sequential bonding of the leadframe and the die to the carrier pad, the problem of alignment of the die with the leadframe still exists.
There is therefore a need for a method for attaching a semiconductor die to a leadframe which addresses at least some of the problems of the prior art methods and which facilitates handling of the die and the leadframe and in particular alignment of the die with the leadframe.
The present invention is directed towards providing such a method, and the invention is also directed towards providing a semiconductor device with an encapsulated bonded assembly of a die and a leadframe.